Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1887-05-20
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


Cows IN SUMMER.-Among the crops
which may be used for summer feeding
barley Is one Of the best, although 1t
does not yield as much as many others;
oats yield better and make very ex-
cellent feed both Winter and Summer:
rye Is not as good, either green or dry,
but 1t grows very early In the spring;
In fact, is ore of the first crops that get
large enough to cut and feed out early
In May; covering as it does the ground
in winter, 1t protects it so well that the
crop draws but little more from the soil
than il prevents from escaping, so the
land after a crop Of green rye is very
nearly as rich as before. For this rea-
son, and for the reason of its earliness,
rye is considered a desirable green crop
to grow.
Hungarian makes very good crop to
cut green, but it soon passes to state OF
ripeness that requires it to be cut and
made into hay. When sown thick
enough to make The straw fine, 1t not
only makes an excellent food while
green, but, well dried, it is rich and
readily eaten at any season. So il a
farmer has light, warm land, he will
find it for his interest 10 SOW an acre or
two of Hungarian every year. Fodder
corn was formerly considered one of the
best green crops to feed out in the sum
mer. but experience has proved il to be
one of the poorest, unless the corn Is
permitted to stand until the ears begin
to form.
When farmer has plenty of moving
land and is short OF pasture, or the feed
in the pasture for any reason becomes
short, "a Sasketful of grass night and
morning to each cow may be fed to ad-
vantage, and il helps wonderfully to
keep up the flow of milk; and if The
moving field is near the barn ii is but
little labor to cut grass enough 10 feed a
half dozen COWS; in fact no more work
than it is to cut rye or barley, if the
lard be rich enough to produce good
crop. The nearer a farmer lives to
city or large town the more important
it is for him TO keep his mich cows up
in high condition by feeding theVedur-
ing the summer, at the barn, night and
mornings; for in such localities he has,
as a rule, set Of customers who depend
on him for certain quantity of milk or
dry; so, to keep his customers, the
farmer must guard against short teed,
which is sure to reduce the flow of milk;
and to give full satisfaction it is neces-
sary 10 feed cows sufficient to keep the
milk up TO a high standard of richness,
which is impossible to do if the cows are
given nothing except what they can get
in the pasture during drought
Ploughman.
RUNTs.-SHALL WE RAISE THEM?-
Some ANNA Is are born "runts." Does
il pay to raise them? Is it not more
economical to kill them as soon as their
runtiness is observed? The runty pigs
are usually put in pen and given to
the wife or daughter. She is told that
if she gives it the slops from the house,
etc., she may have what the hog brings
when it is big and fat. The fact that in
many cases she does not get the money
when the hog is sold, does not deter
her from giving the pig all the slop and
milk it can drink. 1t also gets the crusts'
refuse vegetables. Feelings, ETC., from
the kitchen; and quite often the zeal of
the woman makes the feed of the pig
quite expensive. Kept in confinement
and fed rich, sloppy food, the pig in
creases rapidly in size, but gains more
in size than in weight. If put out with
the other swine, on grass and exercises
its pot belly disappears, it gets pointy,
an loses in size, though not so much in
weight. As it comes from the pen it is
more gut than bone, more slop than
muscle. Its flesh is soft ard flabby.
When put on harder, drier food, and
allowed to take some exercise, both Of
which are essential to firm, sweet whole
some flesh, the fact becomes painfully
apparent that its growth in the pen has
been fictitious to considerable extent.
We believe that the best thing to do is
to kill the runt at once. If pig or Il
lamb, it's value can be but little. The
loss will hardly equal the cost required
to bring the animal to self.suppOrting
basis. In the case of u calf, longer
period of probation may be given; and
ordinarily the chances are in favor of
bringing II colt through. Yet we are of
opinion that such lie the inclination TO
keep rather chan to sacrifice the runt,
that the best advice is to kill without
delay, provided it is not Of a choice
breed and worth the cost of the extra
care necessary to bring up to some-
what normal condition, but this is not
often profitable.
CLOVER AS SHADE.-There is probably
no other plant in the world of such value
to the farmers for this purpose. 1t fur
nishes the most perfect protection to
the soil during the fierce dry heats of
the summer. Being a deciduous plant
its leaves are perpetually falling and
soon form delicate covering for shade,
and easily penetrated at all points by
the air, which is the great carrier to the
wornout soils of those atmospheric ele.
ments that are to enrich it. IL this way
the clover plant not only contributes
directly to the fertilizing OF the soil by
giving its own substance To il bnf il